This week has seen several whole school events that have gone very well indeed.  On Monday we started with the Annual Sports Award evening once again kindly sponsored by Berks County FC, with our guest of honour Matt Dean, a former student and England amputee football international.    The evening was a tremendous celebration of sporting endeavour, excellence and resilience that showcased the amazing talent that we have in school both as individuals and as teams.  Well done all who were recognised for their efforts and good luck for the remaining parts of your seasons or your season ahead depending on your sport.

Tuesday saw over 600 students have their Christmas lunch in school with crackers, paper crowns and very bad Christmas jokes, What goes in the sky and wobbles? ………. A jellycopter was the highlight or lowlight depending on your view.  It was lovely to see the students sitting down with their friends chatting, sharing bad jokes and having other conversations.  Thank you to Cucina and all the staff school who gave up their breaks to make it run efficiently. 

On Wednesday the music department held the winter concert, a wonderful evening of music and singing. There was a sneak preview of the whole school production High School Musical alongside several solo performances, the Function Band, Jazz band and different school choirs.  On a cold damp night, the student's performances certainly warmed the soul seeing their talent and dedication coming together in their performances.  It was also wonderful to see the smiles on their faces as they finished the evening with a sense of achievement, and the teamwork that brought it all together.  Thank you to the music department and also the students who helped with the technical side of the evening.

Over the last few months a small group of  Year 10 students led by Miss Annesley have taken part in the Ascot Supports Community Challenge.  The challenge was to raise as much as possible for the charity of their choice by involving the whole school community as well as local businesses.  The group were excellent and raised £1500 for Daisy Dreams a charity that supports children and young people dealing with bereavement.   This was achieved by engaging with local business and running the Teachers' Karaoke, a whole school event won by Dr Herbert and Mr Myburgh for their portrayal of Jake and Elwood Blues singing their rendition of Everybody Needs Somebody from The Blues Brothers.  Despite raising the most money, involving the whole school community and engaging with local businesses they did not win the competition.   This doesn't  matter as they raised so much money for a brilliant charity and learnt a great deal on the way.

Thank you to all who completed the parental questionnaire on smart devices.  As you know we are looking at the impact that such devices are having on schools and on young people well well-being.  We are increasingly having to deal with incidents that are firmly rooted in the misuse of smart devices in school which leads to disruption of learning, distress for individuals and impacts on student-teacher relationships.   The initial survey outcome of parents can be found HERE  - Where the question sequence jumps we asked open-ended questions that are text-heavy which we are using to help understand parental views in more detail.  In the New Year we will start to investigate this issue in more detail.

CHRISTMAS DRAW 2024

With five -  yes five - UNBELIEVABLE prizes, our 2024 Christmas Draw is our best yet! There is less than a week to go so buy your tickets now to be in with a chance of winning one of these incredible prizes:

• Overnight stay at Pennyhill Park Hotel donated by 

• Theatre show and dinner for two

• Champagne Tea for two

• Afternoon Tea for two

• Escape Room Experience

Tickets are £5 each and can be purchased through ParentPay.  You will not be issued with a ticket, but your name will be entered into the draw for each £5 spent. Payments can be made until 9am on 20/12/24, and winners will be notified by midday. This draw has been registered with RBWM as a Small Society Lottery SL0174.

All proceeds will go towards purchasing display cases for our Art and Science departments.

MAINE CENTRE GARDEN

The Maine Centre garden continues to take shape with the delivery and erection of the polytunnel.  The polytunnel will be used all year round to propagate plants for use in the summer in beds that have started to be built.  The project is being supported by various local companies and The Round Table to help us provide a quiet space to support some of our students and develop their team working skills, as well as giving them a place a talk and learn other new skills.  If you are interested in or can support this project please make contact with Mr  Watts or Mrs Herbert.

Take a look through our social media using the buttons above and check out this week's news stories below.

Festive Message From Kenya

Lord Thurlow Visits Sixth Form

UKMT Senior Kangaroo (2024)

We would like to congratulate Sam, Anas, Elizabeth and Sam of Year 12 on their successful completion of the Andrew Jobbings Senior Kangaroo (SK) Challenge and receipt of their Certification of Qualification.  Having attained the qualifying score from their SMC, they were invited to participate the follow-up round, a 60 min, 20 question ‘integer answer’ challenge which enabled them to think out of the box and problem-solve further than before.  Well done to you all!  You did an amazing job!

YEAR 7 AURELIA 7I who is always willing to help everyone and offer support when needed - really pushing herself in all subjects which has been reflected in her progress report receiving 1s

YEAR 8 GIDEON 8H for always having a smile on his face.  Gideon is a positive member of the year group. Actively engages in all lessons.

YEAR 9 RUFUS 9A for being an outstanding student who goes the extra mile and lives our values of Unity, Respect and Excellence

YEAR 11 DOMIKYAS 11I for his dedication to his studies.

YEAR 12 DAMIAN 12G3 has been very welcoming and has participated enthusiastically in discussion and has fantastic contributions to weekly quiz too.

YEAR 13 JASMINE13R3 for being a fantastic all round student who has worked incredibly hard for her LNAT admissions test and has reaped the reward of a uni offer on the back of this. Always organised, committed and upbeat.

The brand new Staff & Parent Book Club will be meeting for the first time in January. Please register your interest here if you would like to attend: https://forms.office.com/e/SiXF4tK1uH

If you would like any further information, please email r.joel@chartersschool.org.uk

Period products should be available for all who need them, when they need them, so they can access education. Having periods should not be a barrier to education for anyone.

FREE period products are available in toilets, The Library, Sixth Form Common Room and Students Services.

Students are able to take single items or packs when needed, so please encourage your child to do so.

Pre-loved uniform is back!  We will be collecting in your spare, no longer needed uniform on Monday 16 December.  Items can be brought to the Main Reception between 3 - 3.30pm where we have our new PLU shop.

Our stocks have flourished over the year, therefore we will only be accepting items bearing the new crest please.

We do however need HANGERS, HANGERS, HANGERS please.

Please ensure items are in good condition, clean and ironed.  We cannot accept clothes with rips or holes, a good rule of thumb is to think whether your own child would be happy to wear the item.

The next sale of  Pre-loved uniform will be on Wednesday 18 December from 3 - 3.30pm at the new shop in the reception.  Items are sold on a pay what you can basis and both card or cash are accepted. 

Charters School have two vacancies for Parent Trustees due to trustees’ terms of office ending. The Trustee Board welcome nominations from all eligible persons, and are keen to ensure the board is representative of the parent community as a whole. Nominations from those in the building, finance and legal industries would be particularly of interest as these are key areas for growth within the Trustee Board currently. Emails will be sent shortly to provide more details about the role and how to submit your nominations.

We currently have vacancies for an EXAMINATIONS OFFICER and a TEACHER OF SCIENCE.  

Please click HERE to visit the Vacancies page for full details of these roles.

This year's Wish Lists campaign has generated nearly £3000 of donations to grant wishes for departments around the school to enrich the learning experience for our students. 

We are extremely grateful for the generosity shown by our school community.

You can view the 'wishes' here, and if you would like to spread a little Christmas magic this year by granting a wish, donations can be made via CAF Donate or on ParentPay.

Once you have done this, please email our Marketing Team so that they can order your 'wish' and deliver to the department in the new year.

Great Deals at the Dining Hall! Enjoy a £2.75 Meal Deal: Choose a main meal + get a free dessert or piece of fruit! Try the BlueDot Offer: Pick 4 items from the hot deli, cold deli, 4oz pots, homebakes or drinks – all for just £2.75! Affordable, tasty & ready for you!

PLEASE ENSURE THAT YOU START EVERY DAY ON THE RIGHT TRACK  BY BRINGING THE FOLLOWING ITEMS WITH YOU.

 

THINK CAMBRIDGE SERIES

We're excited to announce the return of our Think Cambridge series.This is a series of webinars to inspire Year 12 students to apply to Cambridge.

If you are in Year 11 or 12, we want to inspire you to apply to Cambridge. The Think Cambridge webinar series will help you to discover what Cambridge offers.

The series is also open to parents and supporters. It has lots of information to help them support applicants.

 

 

HOPE CHURCH FOOD SHARE

The Hope Church food share takes place each Tuesday from 12pm-1pm. 

The items include mainly fresh food and bakery items donated from local supermarkets. The food is at the end of its shelf life (but still perfectly fine to eat!) and would otherwise just go to waste. Bring a bag to fill up, stop for a chat and a cup of tea (and cake!!) and warm up in the church. ALL welcome, no voucher/referral required.

Hope Church, Sunningdale, The Hope Centre, High Street Sunningdale, (next to Nag’s Head).

Please CLICK HERE for more details.

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PARENT CURRICULUM/SUPPORT INFORMATION

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PLEASE NOTE: The school’s phone system records all external calls both incoming and outgoing. 

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